


need a sunrise

by ClassyFangirl



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: M/M, Post-Movie, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-28
Updated: 2013-07-28
Packaged: 2017-12-21 14:41:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 786
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/901470
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ClassyFangirl/pseuds/ClassyFangirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It takes Newt three days to remember that the world isn’t ending, not any time soon, and then the worry sets in, eating at him from the inside out.</p>
            </blockquote>





	need a sunrise

It takes Newt three days to remember that the world isn’t ending, not any time soon, and then the worry sets in, eating at him from the inside out.

It’s absurd, he tells himself, it’s goddamn _crazy_ to be this nervous about what comes next when what comes next does not involve the apocalypse. Logically, there’s all sorts of things left to be done- reconstruction, clean-up, rebuilding governments and the economy and _everything_ , but Newt can’t help but feel like he got off the bus several stops too soon and now he’s lost.

Or something. Metaphor’s not his strong suit.

“Damn it, Hermann, I’m a doctor, not a poet,” he mutters to himself, packing up his things. He giggles madly to himself, like it’s the funniest joke in the world.

“What?” Hermann furrows his brow at him from across the lab, where he’s packing his own equipment at a much faster rate than Newt is. “What did you say now?”

“Nothing.” Newt waves the words away. “Just- just talking to myself. Forget about it.”

“Incredible,” Hermann grumbles. “You _don’t_ want an audience for once.”

There hasn’t been any real venom in their insults for years now, but even the heat that lingered behind their words, up through the last weeks (what was supposed to be their _last_ last weeks), is mysteriously gone now. Newt doesn’t care to dwell on why. Normally, sure, he’d dwell, he’s an _expert_ on dwelling, and thinking, and theorizing and planning and plotting because that’s what science _is_ , but right now? Well. Right now, he sort of wants to lie down and not think about _anything_.

He doesn’t see Hermann’s concerned look, but he feels it, like needles pricking the edges of his brain. “I’m _fine,_ ” he says, and there’s half a laugh in his voice. “Seriously, just- just pack your crap.”

Hermann huffs, all straight-laced and stuffy once more. “I didn’t say anything,” he says. “‘Pack your crap’ indeed.” He quite nearly literally _harrumphs,_ which just sets off Newt’s nearly-manic giggles once again. It’s just so _Hermann,_ so familiar and reassuring, nothing like what the future might hold.

There’s a long, tense silence. “We could get jobs at any university in the world,” Hermann says quietly. “It’d be- comfortable.”

“Comfortably _boring,_ ” Newt shoots back without even thinking about it.

“ _Boring_?” Hermann repeats. “ _Boring_ is a _luxury,_ Newton! Have you forgotten the last _twelve years_ that quickly?”

“Don’t you even,” Newt says sharply. “It’s just- it’s not exactly what I saw in my future, okay? Jesus.”

Hermann looks like he’s going to argue further, but a shadow falls across his features. “Oh, _Newton,_ ” he sighs. “You held that little hope for us?”

He’s not sure if it’s the lingering effects of the Drift, or if ten years of breathing down each other’s necks has made Hermann just a little bit telepathic, but it’s a pain either way. “ _No,_ ” he snaps. “I just- I didn’t plan ahead, okay, you know- and love to point out, repeatedly! –that’s not one of my strong suits.”

There’s years of unspoken understanding between them, a bond that is apparently Drift compatible, whatever the hell that even means anymore.

_I don’t want to talk about it._

_We will when you’re ready._

Hermann silently goes back to packing his box, and Newt returns to his own.

“Would MIT take you back?” Hermann asks eventually.

Newt laughs. “Are you kidding? They were drooling over me _before_ I saved the world. I’m amazed, shocked, and slightly appalled my phone’s not ringing off the proverbial hook already.”  


Hermann is not so base he rolls his eyes, but the feeling’s there, and it eases Newt’s pounding head with its familiarity. “A lovely city, Boston,” he says. “East coast.” Ten pounds of subtext roll off his tongue with two little words. 

“They’d take you too,” Newt says, trying so hard to sound casual when it normally comes as naturally to him as breathing. “Math, physics, last minute heroics- I see tenure in your _very_ immediate future. If you haven’t already sold your soul to Oxford, I mean.”

“I could do with a change of scenery. Variety is the spice of life, as they say.”

Newt breaks out in a huge grin. “Oh, _man,_ that means I have to take you to all the best restaurants. There’s this _amazing_ little burger place, and okay, you have to shove your way through the Harvard law assholes, but it’s _worth it,_ let me tell you-”

The canvas of the future starts filling up with places to see and things to do, and soon it’s as though there was never any doubt as to how he’d be spending the days after what was going to be the end.


End file.
